Ms Oketta says she invited Ms Lamwaka, Mr Kisiki and I because, “It is very memorable and inspiring when students meet living writers.” According to her, “Writing is a very delicate hobby. As a profession, if it’s not well grounded, it can easily get lost in the middle of all the many things we want to do or become.”

I don’t think Uncle Dele died on the day he slipped and fell in the bathroom. Aunty Nike and I had rushed him to the hospital even if we knew it was futile. While on the way, Aunty Nike had calmly told me that many years before I came to live with them, Uncle Dele had kicked her in the stomach. She had lost her second pregnancy, and that was when he had first died in her mind. So when he fell down in the bathroom on the morning of his second death, Aunty Nike just watched him beg for his life. He spasmed, clutching at his chest as her smile curved into a plastic smile. As far as she was concerned, the corpse only awaited burial.

Socrates Mbamalu writes short stories and will soon start working on a novel. He was part of the Writivism Workshop 2014. He has had his stories published in the Kalahari Review, SankofaMag and Ynaija. He wants his works to be enjoyed.

Dancing the Otole at a funeral is symbolic of the honourable vision of facing death fearlessly. Emblematic themes which guide the dance are: appeasing the spirit of the deceased, eulogies for gallantry in the past, unity and continuity of the Acholi community.

Shadreck has sent out a social media call for submission to writers across the continent. The call invited, “Writers from all over the African continent and the diaspora to give us their dreams, their dreads, their hopes, and their fictions about a future in Africa in 500 years from now.” Story submissions for consideration in the anthology should be between 3000–3500 words sent in by the deadline date of March 15, 2015.

Our parents had an ingenious way of sending messages across the Atlantic. I think they devised that method because many were not lettered, or what they had to say could not the fit the landscape of paper. Whatever the case was, they used our old friend, the post office. They would purchase a blank audio tape, something we commonly called ’empty cassette’. They would put them into recorders and say everything they wanted to say.